WAG Question about low bar height

[gymnastmom05]

First, this is my first time posting. My daughter is a 10 yr old, level 5 gymnast. Everything I have learned has been through my daughters experience with gymnastics (this will be her 4th year competing) and reading things on here. Due to a very minor injury earlier in the week, my daughter was at the gym last night to run through her routines before a meet this weekend just to make sure she was fine to compete. That meant I was there since it wasn't a long practice for her. Anyway, I noticed when she was practicing her low bar portion of her routine on a practice bar (just a low bar used during stations) her casts were good (at least above horizontal). When she went to the bar set and did her full routine, her casts were very small. I mentioned to her how big her casts were on the one bar and she told me they're much better on that bar because it's not as high. She said the other bar (low bar with the set - not sure of the terminology!) is too high (her and another girl are pretty short - they're by far the shortest on her team of 15 or so girls) so when she (and her friend) start, they're having to jump up and she said it's messing up her kip which is in turn hurting her casts. She seemed to know what she was talking about since she started from the beginning with the bad kip being the problem. I guess my question is - is there a set height that they must use or is it that the coaches are just using one height for all and at this point, it's just making it more difficult for the shorter ones? Not that I can really change it either way, just curious.

 

[munchkin3]

IMO, it's just the height the coach has the bar set at during practice.....the low bar can be changed during the competition and so can the distance between bars for each athlete, and they do a lot of switching!!!!

Mine is small too, and initially she used to have issues if the bar was not set 'just so' or else it would mess up the kip, in turn messing up the cast, and then of course the squat on......(L4) also, the distance of the springboard was a big deal because her kip was very dependent on the amplitude of her glide swing........I'm guessing your DD was one of those who got her high bar kip before her low bar kip?
during practice, the coach did not want to keep changing the bar, so he would let her use a bigger block for her to start from sometimes.......there never seemed to be an issue at the competitions and she would always make the height requirement. (Adrenaline helps )

Over time, she will learn to use more power which is the best thing......I actually saw my DD, 60lbs, do a kip from no swing the other day! I was very surprised to see that, as I didn't know she could.......also, kip cast HS are pretty easy for her......

 

[gymnastmom05]

Thank you for responding! I knew they could change the distance between bars, etc. but since she's new to 5, I thought maybe there was some rule at this level stating the low bar had to be set at "x" height. I guess we'll see how this weekend goes. Last week, another coach worked with her on bars and told me that my DD was strong enough to do a kip cast handstand based on what she observed when she was spotting her. She said the little effort it took, my DD will have it as soon as she learns what it feels like. I'll observe and see if the coaches adjust the height this meet. As far as her kip, I believe she got it on the low bar first. Last year they divided the girls up more on height so I'm guessing they adjusted the bars for the two sets of girls. This year seems more random and based on what they're focusing on that particular practice and putting girls together based on what they need to work on.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Casts tend to get smaller when kids are doing routines, that's why we practice routines(get them to hit the casts etc...). If the human body could put together skills and perform them exactly how they are performed individually ,,,, we wouldn't need to practice routines. The mind tends to focus ahead, or dwell on the past , and that is why putting together skills is hard for most. Some kids are better than others at this. But most struggle and needs lots of practice.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Do any of the girls in your gym jump to the low bar from a spring board?
I think almost all of ours do, which would make the low bar lower.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Casts tend to get smaller when kids are doing routines, that's why we practice routines(get them to hit the casts etc...). If the human body could put together skills and perform them exactly how they are performed individually ,,,, we wouldn't need to practice routines. The mind tends to focus ahead, or dwell on the past , and that is why putting together skills is hard for most. Some kids are better than others at this. But most struggle and needs lots of practice.

I understand what you're saying about this (I think!). I guess I was just seeing the difference between doing the routine (up to the squat on) on the one bar (the one she said is lower) vs doing the entire routine (high bar portion) on the bar that she says is higher. She could connect all of the low bar skills with great casts on the lower bar but tiny casts when she went to the "real" bars. If she had just been doing casts on the lower bar, I would have thought it was combining all the skills but that wasn't what she was doing.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Do any of the girls in your gym jump to the low bar from a spring board?
I think almost all of ours do, which would make the low bar lower.

They always use some piece of ugly looking, torn up foam thing. As far as what the other girls use or if they all use it (they don't use that gross thing during meets, just practice), I'm going to have to pay attention. This is the first meet of the season so my brain has forgotten most non-eventful details since I last watched a meet in March. lol

 

[kayjaybe]

Our shorter girls jump from a springboard or small mat to the low bar for their kip.

At any compulsory meet I've been to, I've never seen them change the bar settings. They frequently have 2 sets of bars and the girls choose the one that fits them best. Resetting the bars takes time away from warm-ups (they don't get extra time to reset them), so I'm guessing that's why they just keep them the same.

And yes, my tiny dd would have the same bar setting as someone 6+ inches taller than her. They seem to make do. The taller girls have to worry about hitting their feet on the ground and the smaller ones have to worry about the jump to the high bar.

 

[munchkin3]

Casts tend to get smaller when kids are doing routines, that's why we practice routines(get them to hit the casts etc...). If the human body could put together skills and perform them exactly how they are performed individually ,,,, we wouldn't need to practice routines. The mind tends to focus ahead, or dwell on the past , and that is why putting together skills is hard for most. Some kids are better than others at this. But most struggle and needs lots of practice.

I am not looking forward to munchie combining ALL elements in L7 bars in one string......I sense the tears and frustration of, 'well I can do X, Y, Z!!!!!!! Why can't I do XYZ together!!!!!!

 

[thefellowsmom]

Watching our coaches change bar settings during warmups is quite the sight. It's kid of like a circus. Some of them are pretty small too and it is hilarious to see them go at tightening and loosening and jumping around and hanging on this and pushing on that. They are like whirlwinds. Props.... It's impressive.

We are talking optionals though. I think in compulsory they all did the same. Warm up is shorter, maybe?

I can remember my tiny dd really struggling with the height of the bar. There was an old level 4 meet where she had to jump into her chin up pull over because she couldn't reach the bar. She was rotating with a group of kids much bigger than her. She worked it out though.

The kip is a fickle beast. She will get better and her confidence will grow and confidence is king.

There may be a reason the coach is having her do this. We have a coach that likes to move kids forward and back a lot in their skill development. She has spoken to me about it and it is very deliberate and she gets good results, but many kids and parents are frustrated by it at first. "she can do x, why is she doing y instead".

Sorry, I digress. My point being maybe coach is having her do it well where she is confident, easier to make corrections when it is easier for them. Then having her go do it where it is challenging for her, but ultimately where she needs to be. I have no idea, just my thoughts when I read all this.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

In meets I have seen other gyms change the bar settings a lot. Our gym uses the same bar settings for all gymnasts (wide) unless they are specifically working the TOPs or HOPES routines which need FIG settings. Doesn't matter if the gymnast is 4'1" or 5'8". The girls can and do adjust the springboard they use to get up to the bars individually.

 

[ascarter1]

I could be incorrect, but here are my thoughts.

The bar set's low bar is set at a slight angle leaning toward the gymnast. Kip bars (single bars) are set up straight. (Does that make sense?) The different angles could be what's making the difference.

Also, a bar set has more of a spring/bounce to it than a kip bar. So that is also different.

Maybe that is what is throwing her off.

Just a thought.

 

[gymcoach1]

Our shorter girls jump from a springboard or small mat to the low bar for their kip.

At any compulsory meet I've been to, I've never seen them change the bar settings. They frequently have 2 sets of bars and the girls choose the one that fits them best. Resetting the bars takes time away from warm-ups (they don't get extra time to reset them), so I'm guessing that's why they just keep them the same.

And yes, my tiny dd would have the same bar setting as someone 6+ inches taller than her. They seem to make do. The taller girls have to worry about hitting their feet on the ground and the smaller ones have to worry about the jump to the high bar.

The time stops during warm-up when you change the bar settings!

 

[gymdog]

Nope, if you choose to block time the clock doesn't stop within the time block.

 

[gymdog]

That said, I can understand why at practice the coach doesn't change the bar setting. It would take a lot of time away from the practice and coaching they get on bars. Rather the coach probably has them practice on the single low bar for this reason, and then when practicing routines for a meet probably has them practice their bar setting then. I don't really reset the bars at practice, although I do change the mat heights to mimic resetting them.

 

[gymcoach1]

Nope, if you choose to block time the clock doesn't stop within the time block.

Oh, I meant it as I warm up my small group in one block, then reset the bar and warmup the taller half... this has never been an issue

 

[gymdog]

You can definitely do that. The only problem is for example if you have one kid who needs the different setting, then they will have to go by themselves which can be tiring. But I'm guessing that based on the OP this is more of a practice issue.

 

[gymnastmom05]

First meet is over and no, coach didn't change the bar height. Both my short DD and the girl nearly a foot taller used the same set up. I do think the adrenaline kicked in because her casts were still fairly decent. I don't think she made it above horizontal but it was larger than before. I guess this will just make her work harder. After all, it's only compulsories and if she can learn to get it done this way, it should make other skills easier later?? That's the thinking I'm just going to go with - And be thankful I only have 7 more meets of listening to compulsory music

 

[duyetanh]

First meet is over and no, coach didn't change the bar height. Both my short DD and the girl nearly a foot taller used the same set up. I do think the adrenaline kicked in because her casts were still fairly decent. I don't think she made it above horizontal but it was larger than before. I guess this will just make her work harder. After all, it's only compulsories and if she can learn to get it done this way, it should make other skills easier later?? That's the thinking I'm just going to go with - And be thankful I only have 7 more meets of listening to compulsory music

How did she do overall?

 

[gymnastmom05]

How did she do overall?

Over all events, she did well. Not perfect but she looks better this year compared to the beginning of Level 4 last year. Her best improvement was on vault. She really struggled last year. Between being very tiny, no confidence and 3 coaching changes on that event, she was terrible. Surprise to us that it ended up being her highest scoring event (and a decent score at that!). This was a mock meet so just our gym and no placements. While meets stress me out, I love to see all the progress they make in 6 months time. I remember watching the level 5's last season and thought there was no way my daughter would be ready for it this season and really thought she would repeat 4. And look her now, out there doing tucks and fly-aways and actually looking like she can vault. Very proud so say the least.